A Beautiful Mess
by WhiteFeather1965
Summary: A Scarecrow and Mrs. King completely plotless slice of life about how Lee and Amanda spend a Sunday afternoon


Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is owned by Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Enterprises. For entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

 **A Beautiful Mess**

Summary: A Scarecrow and Mrs. King completely plotless slice of life about how Lee and Amanda spend a Sunday afternoon.

Amanda took a deep breath and left a dirty smudge as she wiped away sweat from above her eyes with a leather clad wrist. As she sat back on her heels and straightened from her prolonged hunch, her knees protested and her hands massaged at the persistent ache that had settled in her lower back.

A slight breeze with the definite bite of fall coolness ruffled the bits of short hair that had escaped from her ponytail. She sighed and a slow but satisfied smile spread over her face as she glanced about her garden, surveying her and her mother's handiwork.

For a moment she closed her eyes and breathed in the smells of fresh turned earth, burning leaves and mown grass. She listened as the cool breeze whispered in the quaking leaves of the aspen of the winter to come and sent those that had already fallen tripping and tumbling down the sidewalk.

Lee paused in his raking in another part of the yard and silently observed his wife as she took in the beauty that surrounded her. Even now, having been married to her for a few years, it still mystified him, his wife's love of and fascination with growing things and playing in the dirt. The few plants that had had the misfortune of finding themselves in Lee's apartment had died long suffering deaths, since he had frequently forgotten to water them. That was until Amanda had come into his life. She would take them home and with her particular brand of green thumb magic, she would bring them back to life. Some, including a particularly tenacious fichus, had come to rest on the various flat surfaces of the Q Bureau.

But even he would not deny or begrudge her the profusion of colorful blooms she brought every few days to refill the vase that sat on the corner of her desk in the Q Bureau or to friends or family that had lost a love one or had wound up in the hospital due to illness or injury.

Lee wiped sweat for his forehead with a leather gloved hand and captivated by her beauty and his love for her, he carried his rake with him as moved closer to the object of his observation. He let the rake fall next to him as he dropped to his knees beside her and laid a gentle arm across her shoulders. Amanda opened her eyes and looked at him. Her eyes sparkled with love and joy and mischievous grin played about her lips.

Lee smiled back as he pulled her in to lean against his shoulder and kiss the top of her head. "Hey," he said, as his lips came to rest against her temple.

"Hey, yourself," she answered.

"You all right? You're not too cold or tired or anything?" he asked.

"Tired, yes. But it's a good kind of tired. I'm fine. Really. Would you stop worrying about me? Pleeease?" Amanda pleaded.

Lee turned her to face him, a leather clad finger curled under her chin. Amanda resisted, but relented after only a moment and looked up at him.

"Oh, Lee. Why do you want to look at me? I'm a mess," she said and sighed again.

"Yeah, but you're a beautiful mess. Your face is dirty and your hair is sweaty and flying out in all directions, but I have never seen you look more beautiful than you look right now," Lee said quietly. He took a moment to rub her nose with his and said, "I think there might be a clean spot right about… there." And he planted a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Oh, you do know how to charm all the girls," Amanda quipped.

"Nope. Just one… I hope," he said and kissed her again.

Unbeknownst to Lee and Amanda, Dotty listened to this exchange through the open kitchen window as she went about preparing Sunday dinner. She smiled at the thought that her daughter, alone and lonely for so long after her divorce from Joe, had at long last found true love with Lee.

True, she had been terribly disappointed and her trust in her only daughter had faltered when they had revealed to her that they had been married for over a year. But it didn't take her long to realize that they were crazy, stupid, over the moon in love with each other and Lee wasn't going anywhere for a long, long time. As Dotty turned away from the window to open the oven and baste the two whole chickens that were roasting, the conversation continued.

"I don't know if I can get up from here. Maybe I'll stay and grow roots like my flowery friends here," Amanda said and caressed the bloom of a bright yellow Chrysanthemum.

"Not if I can help it," Lee said, as he got to his feet. He dusted off the knees of his jeans and offered his hand.

Amanda grabbed Lee's hand and rolled to the side to get a foot under her. She groaned again as her knees and back protested once more. "Calgon take me away," she said when she at last stood next to Lee.

"I'd like to take you away," said Lee. "To a secluded island where no one will interrupt us or bother us or shoot at us. What do you think?"

"For now, I'll settle for a tub of warm water, but I just might take you up on that someday, Big Fella," Amanda said and kissed him on the lips, as he swayed gently with her in his arms.

Suddenly, Amanda stopped Lee in mid sway and grasped his upper arms, a strange dreamy expression on her face.

"Amanda, are you all right?" Lee asked, as he snapped his fingers in front of her face a few times to get her attention. "Amanda?"

Amanda blinked and shook her head as though to clear it. Then her hand dropped to the basketball sized mound that now dominated her midsection. At the concerned look on his face, Amanda reassured him, "Oh, Lee. I'm just fine. It seems our daughter is awake and wants to say hello."

A blissful grin spread over his face, as Lee laid his hand where Amanda told him to and felt a tiny elbow jab into his palm. He shook his head and said, "No matter how many times I do that, it never ceases to amaze me." His smile remained, as he said, "C'mon, let's get this cleaned up and go inside."

He retrieved his fallen rake and Amanda's discarded gardening tools and put them on the tool rack where they belonged. When he got back to Amanda, she was standing in the same spot. She stood with her weight shifted to one side, her arms folded over chest and her head tilted to one side, lost in thought. Lee stopped just out of sight to look at her. She really was a beautiful mess, with her dirt smudged face, stringy hair and bulging belly, just now 28 weeks along.

"C'mon, little mama," Lee said and swept her into his arms. "Let's get you into a warm tub, so you can soak away all the dirt and aches and pains." Lee sighed as he stood with his beautiful, but messy, wife in his arms, her body curled protectively around their baby daughter, the glory of her garden all around him.

"Today is shaping up to be a great day," he said as he inhaled the mouthwatering smells of oven roasted chicken and garlic roasted potatoes wafting from the open kitchen window and brought Amanda through the back door.

"Yes, it is," Amanda said and kissed her handsome husband on the cheek.


End file.
